Treasury Seeking Detailed Information on Servicers and Modifications

The Treasury Department will gather more detailed information from residential servicers on their proprietary loan modifications.

"We will look for ways to get better information," Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner told the Congressional Oversight Panel on Thursday.

Treasury already collects detailed information on the performance of servicers under the government's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). But the secretary told the panel that the "quality of the data" on proprietary modifications is "not so great."

At Treasury's request, Hope Now began collecting more information from its members during the summer. The group, whose members are among the nation's largest servicers, recently released figures showing that 53% of borrowers receiving proprietary mods in July through September saw their monthly principal and interest payments reduced by 10% or more.

Hope Now also reported that 82% of the proprietary mods remain in effect for at least five years, which is the standard for HAMP mods.

Geithner noted that he wants information on individual servicers -- not aggregated data.Hope Now executive director Faith Schwartz said Treasury will have to work with federal banking regulators to get that information. Oversight Panel member Richard Neiman said regulators claim such information is "supervisory" in nature and is considered confidential. He said regulators refused to provide servicer information to the congressional panel that oversees the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

"I would like more data on that and we are going to look for ways to do that," Geithner said. "It is valuable" data and its disclosure can change "behavior," he added.

Servicers completed 335,700 proprietary modifications in the third quarter, compared to 98,880 HAMP modifications, according to Hope Now.

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